Summer Encampment

Landon swore he'd never go to Summer Encampment. However he had such a blast serving on staff at the past Winter Encampment that he changed his mind. He does NOT like the heat. So, this was a challenge for him. He came home covered in a heat rash. This is typical for him and part of why he doesn't like the heat! He took his camera and got some great pictures. We got some as well at the Pass in Review ceremony.

Landon takes his first shot at rappelling (if you can call it that - he wasn't going very quickly down this wall!).


The India Flight Commander, Semko, brought this war paint. That's not actually what you call it, but Landon's not here so I can't ask him. :)


This is some of the Squadron 3 staff which consisted of Golf, Hotel, and India flights.


A Navy helicopter flew in, and the cadets got to tour it.


During the closing ceremony, the line staff went forward to receive awards. Landon is the one with glasses in the center. (He's been having a problem with his contacs and has to wear his glasses for three months.) The cadet on his left (actually Landon's right, but to the left as you look at the picture) is one of his good friends, Brock Wright.


Landon's Flight, Golf Flight, during the Pass in Review ceremony. Landon was the Flight Commander and is the one saluting in this picture.


After the ceremony, Landon had to sign out his flight and give them their certificates.


He got about 5 hours of sleep a night. It took him 3 entire days to get back to his normal cheerful self!

Testing, Testing, Testing

In early June, Landon took the SAT for the first time. He could hardly wait for his scores as he thought he'd done pretty well. Shortly after that, he took his third CLEP test - English Composition with Essay. This one is worth 6 college English credits.

Yesterday, he received his CLEP score. He made a 77 out of 80. This morning his SAT scores went online. He made a perfect score on the Critical Reading section and a 700 on the math, giving him a 1500 on the two sections of the test that most colleges count. (Many colleges are not interested in the newer writing section that includes a subjective essay score. He made a 770 on that part anyway.)

In the meantime, he took a 6-week college course via dual enrollment - Microcomputer Applications. He really enjoyed it AND he finished the course with a grade of 98.2%. So, he is beginning his junior year of high school in the fall and already has 15 college credits. :)

He's always been a good test taker, and that seems to be paying off. We will be going out to dinner to celebrate today! Woohoo!

What's Up

I spent last week running to doctor's appointments - Tuesday in Orlando, Wednesday in Ocala, Thursday in Gainesville. No one has any this week, thankfully. No, that's wrong. Gerren and Chase have the orthodontist Thursday, but at least it's only 5-10 minutes from our house.

Today was a full day of evaluations for area homeschoolers. So many of these moms inspire me because of their daily lives. My friend Mindy spent this last year battling cancer and still managed to do the important stuff with her girls. She will be quick to tell you she couldn't have done it with the help of a friend and her mom. :) I hope I was able to be a help to some of these moms as well.

I've been doing a lot of reading this summer - prereading stuff for Landon next year (The Scarlet Letter, The View From Saturday - I loved this one, and some of O. Henry's short stories) as well as some just-for-fun stuff (the newest mysteries by my favorite authors - Dare to Die by Carolyn Hart - and trying to read everything Ted Dekker's ever written). No better way to spend a summer in my book! :)

Carys's Story

Carys is getting to the age where she remembers stories in detail. When we picked her up from her class after church yesterday, she was very excitedly telling us about Jesus sleeping in the boat and the scary storm. She remembered a lot of the details. I just LOVE that! She really loves her class at this church and has made friends (unlike the rest of us).

Anyway, last night she came into the bathroom where I was washing my face and said, "Can I tell you a story?" Now who could resist that? So she began...

"Uponce a time" (no, that's not a typo, I guess this is her version of once upon a time - did I say that Daddy tells her a story every night? - it sounds like u-pon-sa time)

"Uponce a time there were two little girls named Tockley and Gockley..."

"Tockley and Gockley?" I asked.

"Yes, Tockley and Gockley." (All her imaginary friends have names that rhyme with Tockley - except for Hayden - but that's another story!)

"Hers a little tiny girl," she continued, with her two fingers held up to show me how tiny.

"Like you?" I asked.

"Uh huh," she affirmed, nodding yes.

"There was a storm and thunder and lightening. They were really scared." (I wonder where this part of the story came from. LOL!)

She prattled on, following me from room to room as I got ready for bed. I found it so funny that Tockley and Gockley talked to one another, one in a very high voice and the other in a very low voice.

What a clever girl we have!

School Planning Aggravation!

Our plans for Landon's school for the fall have been thrown for a loop this week, and I am tired of thinking about it and just want to pull the covers over my head and never come out! Landon is finishing a pre-calculus class (which consists of college algebra and trigonometry) and will be ready to take calculus in the fall. He is also ready for physics as far as science goes. We had always planned for him to dual enroll at our local community college when he got to this point.

However, the branch of CFCC that is five minutes from our house doesn't offer either of these classes AT ALL! To take them, we would have to go to the main campus which is a 45 minute drive from us. That would mean I'd have to drive Landon there, since he does not have his license yet (and won't get it until he gets a job and can afford his own insurance). On top of that, they only have one section of Calculus I with Analytical Geometry even at the main campus, and it meets four days a week! How in the world am I supposed to homeschool 3 other kids while spending all my time driving Landon back and forth to class.

And to add insult to injury, CFCC requires Calculus I as a prerequisite for Physics (even though PHCC, another community college near us) requires only Pre-Calculus as a pre- OR co-requisite. Why the big difference? PHCC has both of these classes at their campus about 30 minutes from us, and they both meet only 2 days a week. There is a slight overlap, however, with the Physics lab and the Calculus class one day. We are contemplating dual enrolling there instead of CFCC. However, that will probably mean going to the main campus next semester which is even further.

I honestly want to get in bed, pull the covers over my head, and never come out. Sigh!

"I'm Brushing My Teeth!' - The Carys Chronicles

Carys asked someone for a marker (we finally put childproofing on the school room cabinet since she kept getting into it) and was drawing on paper for awhile. The kids and I were doing school and not paying attention, I guess.

Shortly thereafter, Carys came into the school room and said to Landon, "I'm brushing my teeth!" Yes, she was brushing them with the green marker. Thankfully, it was a washable marker.

Build-A-Bear

I've had this post in process for a week, but life has been hectic and my brain has been used up in other areas. When my friend Michelle decided to check on me, I figured I'd better get going on this blog post! :)

Part of Chase's birthday this year was a trip to Build-A-Bear. We have never been before (our children are so deprived :), so she was really excited. Carys got to go, too. The boys weren't interested! It's at least 1-1/2 hours from our house to a Build-A-Bear, so Chase patiently waited until we had another reason to take a trip. So, on Sunday, May 17, we went to Umatilla to pick up Landon from a weekend CAP training, then headed over to the Altamonte Mall. We had lunch at Chili's, stopped at the Home Goods store to exchange something I'd bought in December (!), and then finally made it to Build-A-Bear.

The girls picked their animals - a bear for Chase and a dog for Carys.


Carys likes to have her picture taken.


Carys checks to see if her dog is stuffed just right!


Chase loves her bear as well.


Time for a shower.


Finally it was time to name the little critters and get birth certificates.


When the girl was stuffing Carys's dog, she asked Carys what she was going to name the dog. I don't think Carys understood the question. So, the girl asked, "Is it a boy or a girl?" Carys said, "It's a boy." From then on when we asked her what she wanted to name him, she'd say, "It's a boy." Finally, Greg suggested Toby. This was good with Carys, but sometime on the way home she began calling him Toby Mac. :) Gerren's influence shows up, I guess.

Chase named her bear Portia from one of her favorite books this year Gone Away Lake. It was a fun day!